Home network resource management

ABSTRACT

Some implementations of the disclosure are directed to a method, including: receiving traffic flows transmitted by user devices over a local area network including the user devices; determining a user device of the user devices that transmitted each traffic flow of the traffic flows; classifying each traffic flow of the traffic flows as being associated with a class of service and a traffic class, the traffic flows being classified as belonging to multiple classes of service and traffic classes; and distributing available bandwidth between the traffic flows based on the traffic classes, the classes of service, and the user devices by: distributing, to each traffic flow of the traffic flows, a portion of the available bandwidth based on the class of service associated with the traffic flow, the traffic class associated with the traffic flow, and the user device that transmitted the traffic flow.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/923,970, titled “HOME NETWORK RESOURCEMANAGEMENT”, filed Jul. 8, 2020, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Home network Internet traffic encompasses variety of traffic, includingvoice, video, and data with assured quality of service such as latency,throughput, jitter, and privacy. Traditionally, traffic flows areprioritized based on the flows themselves, and not the originator ordestination of the flows. For example, if multiple devices are connectedto a network, the individual traffic flows that these devices originateare independently flow controlled irrespective of where they come from.The traffic flows may be classified by identifying the traffic flowsbased on Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and port numbers (optionallyincluding protocol if needed); or by deep packet inspection, whichclassifies packets based on specific data patterns in the payload.

As such, connections may be classified based upon provisioned (static)multi-field (MF) attributes to a particular traffic class. Some Internetprotocols have different Quality of Service (QoS) expectations dependingon the external use of the application. For example, while a userbrowses a webpage, the user's device may download static content (e.g.,text and pictures) or perform pseudo-downloads of audio/video clips. Theuser experience for each of these “web browsing” actions createsdifferent QoS expectations.

SUMMARY

Implementations of the disclosure are directed to allocating bandwidthto each of a plurality of traffic flows transmitted by a plurality ofuser devices based on the traffic flow's class of service and the userdevice associated with the traffic flow.

In one embodiment, a method, comprises: receiving a plurality of trafficflows transmitted by a plurality of user devices; determining, at amodem, a user device of the user devices that is associated with each ofthe traffic flows; classifying, at the modem, each of the traffic flowsaccording to a class of service associated with a traffic class; andallocating, at the modem, bandwidth to each of the traffic flows basedon the traffic flow's class of service and the user device associatedwith the traffic flow. The traffic flows may be destined for a host onthe Internet.

In some implementations, each of the user devices is assigned a priorityrelative to the other user devices, wherein allocating bandwidth to eachof the traffic flows comprises: allocating bandwidth to each of thetraffic flows based on the traffic flow's class of service and thepriority assigned to the user device transmitting the traffic flow.

In some implementations, allocating bandwidth to each of the trafficflows comprises: distributing bandwidth to each of the user devicesbased on a minimum bandwidth requirement of the user device; anddistributing the bandwidth allocated to each of the user devices amongone or more of the traffic flows transmitted by the user device.

In some implementations, allocating bandwidth to each of the trafficflows comprises: distributing bandwidth from a total available bandwidthto each of the traffic classes based on a configured minimum bandwidthfor each of the traffic classes; distributing the bandwidth distributedto each of the traffic classes to the classes of services associatedwith the traffic class; and distributing the bandwidth distributed toeach of the classes of services to each of the user devices thattransmitted one or more of the traffic flows associated with the classof service.

In some implementations, the method further comprises: equallydistributing the bandwidth distributed to one of the user devices forone of the classes of services to a plurality of the traffic flowstransmitted by the one user device that are associated with the class ofservice. In some implementations, the configured minimum bandwidth is aconfigured minimum bandwidth percentage.

In some implementations, distributing the bandwidth distributed to eachof the traffic classes to the classes of services associated with thetraffic class, comprises: distributing, based on weights assigned to theclasses of services associated with one of the traffic classes, thebandwidth distributed to the one traffic class to the classes of serviceassociated with the one traffic class.

In some implementations, distributing the bandwidth distributed to eachof the classes of services to each of the user devices that transmittedone or more of the traffic flows associated with the class of service,comprises: distributing, based on weights assigned to the user devicesthat transmitted one more of the traffic flows associated with one ofthe classes of service, the bandwidth distributed to the one class ofservice to the user devices that transmitted the one more of the trafficflows associated with the one class of service.

In some implementations, allocating the bandwidth to each of the trafficflows, comprises: distributing a total available bandwidth to thetraffic flows as a function of traffic classes associated with thetraffic flows, the classes of services associated with the trafficflows, and the user devices that transmitted the traffic flows; anddistributing any bandwidth leftover, after distributing the totalavailable bandwidth, in a round robin scheme in strict priority order.

In some implementations, classifying each of the traffic flows accordingto the class of service associated with the traffic class, comprises:determining a recent dominant host application type of one of thedevices that transmitted one of the traffic flows; and classifying,based on at least the recent dominant host application type, the onetraffic flow.

In one embodiment, a system comprises a processor; and a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the system to perform a method,comprising: receiving a plurality of traffic flows transmitted by aplurality of user devices; determining a user device of the user devicesthat is associated with each of the traffic flows; classifying each ofthe traffic flows according to a class of service associated with atraffic class; and allocating bandwidth to each of the traffic flowsbased on the traffic flow's class of service and the user deviceassociated with the traffic flow. In some implementations, the system isa modem.

In one embodiment, a method of allocating bandwidth to each of aplurality traffic flows transmitted by a plurality of user devices,comprises: distributing, at a modem, based on a configured minimumbandwidth for each of a plurality of traffic classes associated with thetraffic flows, bandwidth from a total available bandwidth to each of thetraffic classes; distributing, at the modem, the bandwidth distributedto each of the traffic classes to one or more classes of servicesassociated with the traffic class and the traffic flows; anddistributing, at the modem, the bandwidth distributed to each of theclasses of services to each of the user devices that transmitted one ormore of the traffic flows associated with the class of service.

Other features and aspects of the disclosure will become apparent fromthe following detailed description, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the featuresin accordance with various embodiments. The summary is not intended tolimit the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the claimsattached hereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The technology disclosed herein, in accordance with one or moreembodiments, is described in detail with reference to the followingfigures. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only andmerely depict typical or example embodiments of the disclosedtechnology. These drawings are provided to facilitate the reader'sunderstanding of the disclosed technology and shall not be consideredlimiting of the breadth, scope, or applicability thereof. It should benoted that for clarity and ease of illustration these drawings are notnecessarily made to scale.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example satellite network including a satelliteterminal in which the technology described herein may be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating some components of a satellitemodem, in accordance with implementations of the disclosure.

FIG. 3A depicts an example waveform illustrating the random nature ofwebpage interactive traffic over time.

FIG. 3B depicts an example waveform illustrating a video streamingtraffic session over time.

FIG. 4 illustrates a bucket for storing counts of application types seenand packet loss statistics of a host over a time window, in accordancewith implementations of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates a tracking control block of a host having a trackingwindow including a plurality of recent tracking buckets, in accordancewith implementations of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a process of creating a new tracking bucket for thetracking control block of FIG. 5 , in accordance with implementations ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 7 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an exemplary methodof determining a recent dominant host application type value, inaccordance with implementations of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example method forcalculating a final recent dominant host application type value when arecent dominant host application type value is calculated for both alocal host and a remote host, in accordance with implementations of thedisclosure.

FIG. 9 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example flowcontrol method of utilizing a modem to allocate bandwidth to trafficflows based on the traffic flows and characteristics of the user devicesassociated with the traffic flows, in accordance with implementations ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates a queuing structure that may be implemented at amodem to provide flow control, in accordance with implementations of thedisclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example method for distributing/assigningbandwidth to user flows as a function of the flow's traffic class, classof service, and the user device from which the flow originated, inaccordance with implementations of the disclosure.

FIG. 12 illustrates one particular example implementation of the methodof FIG. 11 .

FIG. 13 illustrates a computer system/communication device upon whichexample embodiments according to the present disclosure can beimplemented.

FIG. 14 illustrates a chip set in which embodiments of the disclosuremay be implemented.

The figures are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the inventionto the precise form disclosed. It should be understood that theinvention can be practiced with modification and alteration, and thatthe disclosed technology be limited only by the claims and theequivalents thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The traditional approach of flow/connection based traffic classificationdiscussed above does not lend itself to the optimal use of limitedresources among competing devices, especially in the case of a customerpremise modem, which has limited computing resources, including memoryresources, processing power and uplink bandwidth. For example, if tentraffic flows originate from one device, and one traffic flow originatesfrom another device, there may be a lopsided allocation of modemresources to the device originating ten traffic flows if the two devicesare not identified when allocating resources to the eleven trafficflows. As such, while the use of flow based classification may bebeneficial in many scenarios, it may pose challenges in the followingscenarios: a system's ability to classify devices based on theirpredominant application usage; a system's ability to reclassify devicesbased on their current connection characteristics; a system's ability toidentify devices that are behaving out of their intended use/norm; asystem's ability to apply fair queuing policy across all in home devicesin times of bandwidth congestion; a customer's ability to prioritizetraffic from different devices; the ability of the customer to configuredevice based throughput policing; the ability of the customer toconfigure device based volume policing; system's ability to apply devicebased volume usage policing; the customer's ability to prioritizetraffic from devices; the customer's ability to configure device basedthroughput and volume policing; the system's ability to apply devicebased throughput and volume usage policing; and the system's ability toprioritize web traffic based on domain on a device basis.

Given the limited computing resources available, particularly in theuplink direction from the user's premise to the network (e.g.,Internet), a method is needed to shape and/or limit the ingress trafficto provide equitable distribution of available resources among all thecompeting connected devices. To this end, the systems and methods of thepresent disclosure are directed to allocating computing resources totraffic flows based on the device originating the traffic flows and/orthe destination of the traffic flows. As such, traffic classificationmay consider both the type of flow and the device associated with thetraffic flow. The techniques described herein may be implemented using amodem (e.g., a satellite modem) that is programmed to allocate resourcesto traffic flows based at least in part on the originating device ordestination device. In accordance with some implementations describedherein, the modem may provide a user interface (e.g., a web interfacethrough a web browser) through which a user may prioritize ordeprioritize traffic flows coming from particular devices. By virtue ofimplementing the techniques described herein, limited computingresources such as uplink bandwidth, modem memory, and modem processingpower may be optimally allocated among competing devices in a way thatwill enhance the user experience.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example satellite network 10 including a satelliteterminal 100 in which the technology described herein may beimplemented. It should be noted that although the traffic flow controlsystems and methods described herein will primarily be described in thecontext of satellite networks including satellite terminals that utilizea satellite modem, the systems and methods described herein may also beapplied to terrestrial communications networks such as cellularcommunication networks that utilize modems.

Satellite network 10 in this example can include a satellite 12,satellite terminal 100, radio frequency terminals (RFT) 16, inroutegroup managers (IGMs) 18, satellite gateways (SGWs) 19, and IP gateways(IPGWs) 20. The satellite network may be a shared access broadbandnetwork. Other types of shared access networks may include, for example,wireless networks such as a 5^(th) Generation (5G) cellular network,4^(th) Generation Long Term Evolution (4G LTE) and WiMAX networks, whichmay include cellular and WiFi equipped devices. Although a singlesatellite 12 is shown in this example, it should be appreciated thatsatellite network 10 may be a multi-satellite network 10 where aparticular satellite services satellite terminal 100 depending on thepresent location of terminal 100 and present location of the spotbeam ofthe satellite.

Feeder links may carry data between RFT 16 and satellite 12, and mayinclude: forward uplink 23 a for transmitting data from RFT 16 tosatellite 12; and return downlink 25 a for transmitting data fromsatellite 12 to RFT 16. User links may carry data between satellite 12and satellite terminal 100, and may include: return uplink 25 b fortransmitting data from satellite terminal 100 to satellite 12; andforward downlinks 23 b for transmitting data from satellite 12 toterminal 100. Forward uplinks 23 a and forward downlink 23 b form anoutroute, and return uplinks 25 b and return downlinks 25 a may form aninroute. SGWs 19 may include high capacity earth stations withconnectivity to ground telecommunications infrastructure. SGWs 19 may becommunicatively connected to RFT 16 and other RFTs (not shown). RFT 16may be the physical equipment responsible for sending and receivingsignals to and from satellite 12, and may provide air interfaces forSGWs 19/IGMs 18.

Satellite 12 may be any suitable communication satellite. For example,satellite 12 may be a bent-pipe design geostationary satellite, whichcan accommodate innovations and variations in transmission parameters,operating in the Ka-band, Ku-band or C-band. Satellite 12 may use one ormore spot beams as well as frequency and polarization reuse to maximizethe total capacity of satellite network 10. Signals passing throughsatellite 12 in the forward direction may be based on the DVB-S2standard (ETSI EN 302 307) using signal constellations up to andincluding at least 32-APSK. The signals intended to pass throughsatellite in the return direction from satellite terminal 100 may bebased on the Internet Protocol over Satellite (IPoS) standard (ETSI TS102 354). Other suitable signal types may also be used in eitherdirection, including, for example higher data rate variations of DVB-S2.

IPGWs 20 may be an ingress portion of a local network. IP traffic,including TCP traffic originating from a host 40 from the internet, mayenter an SGW 19 through IPGWs 20. SGW 19 may be connected to an internetthrough IPGWs 20. Multiple IPGWs may be connected to a single SGW. Thebandwidth of RFT 16 and other RFTs (not shown) may be shared amongstIPGWs 20. At each of IPGWs 20, real-time (RT) and NRT traffic flows maybe classified into different priorities. These traffic flows may beprocessed and multiplexed before being forwarded to priority queues atSGW 19. RT traffic may go directly to an RT priority queue of SGW 19,while NRT traffic flows may be serviced based on the respective priorityand volume. Data may be further packed into DVB-S2 code blocks andstored in a code block buffer before transmission. IGMs 18 may bebandwidth controllers running bandwidth allocation algorithms. The IGMsmay manage bandwidth of satellite terminal 100 and other terminals inthe form of inroute groups (IGs), based in part on bandwidth demandrequests from the remote terminals

Data from an internet intended for satellite terminal 100 may be in theform of IP packets, including TCP packets and UDP packets, or any othersuitable IP packets, and may enter a SGW 19 at any one of IPGWs 20. TheIP packets may be processed and multiplexed by SGW 19 along with IPpackets from other IPGWs, where the IPGWs may or may not have the sameservice capabilities and relative priorities. The IP packets may betransmitted to satellite 12 on forward uplink 23 a using the airinterface provided by RFT 16. Satellite 12 may them transmit the IPpacket to the satellite terminal 100 using forward downlink 23 b.Similarly, IP packets may enter the network via satellite terminal 100,be processed by the satellite terminal 100, and transmitted to satellite12 on return uplink 25 b. Satellite 12 may then send these inroute IPpackets to the IGMs 18/IPGWs 20 using return downlink 25 a.

Satellite terminal 100 may connect to the Internet or other networkthrough satellite 12 and IPGWs 20/SGW 19 and provide access to theInternet or other network to one or more user devices 200 that connectto satellite terminal 100. In particular, satellite terminal 100includes an internet modem via which all network packets flow. Forexample, satellite terminal 100 may provide IP address and otherassignments via the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), andrespond to requests for renewal and updates; respond to AddressResolution Protocol (ARP) requests for any IP address on the localsubnet in instances where terminal 100 serves as the gateway to theinternet; carry unicast IP (TCP and UDP) packets to the space link;carry multicast UDP/IP packets to the space link if enabled; accept IPpackets directed to its local IP address (e.g., for WebUI); and performother functions. In some implementations, the satellite terminal 100 maybe a satellite terminal of a customer's premise, including a modem. Inother implementations, the satellite terminal 100 may be implemented asa modem with integrated transmit/receive circuitry mounted on a mobileplatform. In some implementations, the satellite terminal 100 may beimplemented as a community WiFi terminal that includes a modem and aWiFi router. The community WiFi terminal may provide service to multiplehouseholds or to users visiting a community access site (e.g., a coffeeshop).

In some implementations, satellite terminal 100 may include a satelliteindoor unit (IDU) communicatively coupled to a satellite outdoor unit(ODU). The satellite IDU may include a modem, and the satellite ODU mayinclude a radio frequency unit (RFU) and antenna. The RFU may include anupconverter for upconverting signals received from the satellite IDU.For example, the upconverter may be used in the transmission ofsatellite inroute signals via the antenna by frequency upconverting anIF signal received by the RFU from the modem. The upconverter mayamplify the signal. The frequency upconverted (and amplified) signal maybe sent to the antenna, which may focus the signal into a narrow beamfor transmission to a satellite. In some implementations, theupconverter may be mounted on the antenna. For example, the upconvertermay be a block upconverter (BUC) mounted on a dish. The antenna may beany suitable antenna design (e.g., small aperture parabolic antennadesign) configured to transmit and receive electromagnetic signals toand from one or more satellites.

The one or more user devices 200 may include any user device that isprovided access to the Internet or other network by a satellite modem ofsatellite terminal 100. For example, the one or more user devices 200may be a laptop, a desktop computer, a router, a tablet, a smartphone, asmart television, a smart home device, etc. A user device 200 maytransmit packets to or receive packets from a modem of satelliteterminal 100. The user device 200 may wirelessly couple to the modem(e.g., over WiFi) or communicatively couple to the modem of thesatellite terminal 100 over an ethernet cable.

In some implementations, the satellite modem may comprise an integratedrouter. In other implementations, the satellite modem maycommunicatively couple to a router that receives packets from the userdevices 200.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating some components of a satellitemodem 300, in accordance with implementations of the disclosure. Asdepicted, satellite modem 300 includes a network interface 310 (e.g.,WiFi and/or Ethernet) for communicatively coupling to user devices 200,one or more computer readable mediums 320, and one or more processingdevices 330. For simplicity of discussion, other possible components ofsatellite modem 300 are excluded from FIG. 2 . For example, satellitemodem 300 may also comprise components for communicatively coupling itto a satellite communication network (e.g., as part of an IDU/ODUconfiguration). Satellite modem 300 may also, in some instances,comprise satellite TX circuitry and satellite RX circuitry. For example,satellite TX circuitry may apply functions for transmitting data (e.g.,user data appearing at the local Ethernet connection destined to thesatellite link) such as forward error correction (FEC) encoding,bit-to-symbol modulation, transmit pulse-shaping, carrier signalmodulation, and other satellite transmission functions. Satellite RXcircuitry may provide functions to a satellite receive signal such ascarrier down conversion, receive pulse-shaping, symbol-to-bit decoding,and other satellite receiver functions.

The computer readable medium(s) 320 include a traffic classificationmodule 321, a host characterization module (HCM) 322, a flow servicerate characterization module (FSCM) 323, flow control instructions 324,network address translation (NAT) table 325, and ARP table 326.

In this example, satellite modem 300 comprises an integrated router. Assuch, satellite modem 300 is directly communicatively coupled to userdevices 200 via network interface 310. For example, satellite modem 300may form a home local area network (LAN) with user devices 200. Byvirtue of having an integrated router, modem 300 may uniquely identifyuser devices 200 and their associated traffic flows by accessing NATtable 325 and ARP table 326. User devices 200 may be uniquely identifiedby their MAC address for both NAT-ed IPv4 traffic and IPv6 traffic.

In particular, the ARP table 326 may store a mapping between the IPaddresses and MAC addresses of user devices 200. For each connection ortraffic flow associated with a given user device 200, NAT table 325 maymaintain a pairing of the user device's private IP address withdestination IP address and port. This pairing may be referred to as aconnection. Each user device 200 may have multiple active connections.As such, using entries of NAT table 325, data packets may be pushed tothe public network (e.g., Internet), to its intended host destination IPaddress. If a data packet comes in from the public network, its sourceIP address may be changed to the target device's private IP address,then pushed to the appropriate user device 200.

In alternative implementations, user devices 310 may directlycommunicatively couple to a separate router device that connects tosatellite modem 300 via network interface 310. In such implementations,although user devices 200 may not be identified using their unique MACaddresses for IPv4 traffic, in implementations, further discussed below,a user device 200 may be identified via a predominant service it is usedfor. For example, the device may be identified via the characteristicsof the traffic flows it sends or receive, or the destination address ofits traffic flows.

The modules 321-323 may include one or more sets of instructions thatmay be executed by one or more processing device(s) 330 to performfunctions in accordance with the disclosure. In some implementations,the modules 321-323 (and flow control instructions 324) may be combinedinto a single module or set of instructions that governs trafficclassification, traffic scheduling, and/or other functions. Thefunctions of modules 321-323 are further described below.

Traffic flow classification module 321 is configured to classify trafficflows into traffic classes. To understand the operation of flow-basedclassification module 321, it is instructive to consider the example ofHypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), which refers to an extensionof the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that provides securedcommunications over a computer network by encrypting the communicationprotocol using Transport Layer Security (TLS). Port 443 is typicallyused for HTTPs traffic. HTTPs is becoming prominent not only forconventionally secured transactions such as online banking, but also forsocial media or video-sharing applications where privacy needs to beconsidered (e.g., FACEBOOK or YOUTUBE). As a result, banking traffic andvideo streaming traffic may both utilize port 443. However, if port 443is the only criteria used to classify a traffic type into a higherpriority, then ongoing video flows may slow down online banking traffic,especially when the network is congested. Thus, to provide improvedtraffic classification, there is a need to differentiate the traffic ofonline banking and video streaming using other characteristics oftraffic flows.

In implementations, traffic flow classification module 321 is configuredto classify traffic flows by statistically profiling them based on theiruse of bandwidth over time. This profiling technique may consider, forexample, the frequency and size of traffic bursts, where traffic burstsrefer to group of data packets with small inter-arrival gaps as comparedto burst inter-arrival time. To illustrate, consider traffic bursts fordifferent types of network traffic. FIG. 3A depicts an example waveformillustrating the random nature of webpage interactive traffic over time.In the case of normal web browsing, traffic bursts are interleaved withrandom inter-arrival times. For instance, consider a user that sends awebpage request (e.g., using HTTP or HTTPs protocol) to a server thatresponds with a group of packets. On receiving a response, the user maysend another request to continue the interaction. In this scenario, theburst inter arrival time, which is based on user interaction, is random.

FIG. 3B depicts an example waveform illustrating a video streamingtraffic session over time. In the case of a video streaming session, asoftware program on the user's client device initiates video playback bysending a HTTP or HTTPs request to the server for downloading videocontent. The server typically sends a large burst of data in thebeginning to fill up the playback buffer of the client up to a certainthreshold (e.g., based on the video quality and network conditions).Thereafter, the server sends video data only at the rate needed tosupport video playback. In this instance, the burst interarrival isnearly constant as compared to a random arrival in the case of webbrowsing.

As the foregoing examples illustrate, inter burst arrival time and burstsizes may be used to differentiate traffic flows. For example, byconsidering inter burst arrival time, web browsing flows may bedifferentiated from video streaming flows. By considering the burstsize, a short video clip may be differentiated against a movie or longervideo clip.

As such, with statistical classification, the profile of a trafficsession may be captured to determine what traffic class the trafficsession belongs to. In implementations, a traffic profile may includethe following five statistical characteristic metrics: averagethroughput, session duration, ON/OFF duration, ON/OFF ratio, and maximumthroughput rate. The average throughput is the throughput rate from thestart of a session to the time it is measured. The session duration mayrefer to the duration from the start of a traffic session to the time itis measured. ON duration may refer to the accumulated time that has datafor a traffic session. OFF duration may refer to the accumulated timethat has no data for a traffic session. The ratio of time in between mayrefer to the ON/OFF ratio. The maximum throughput rate may refer to thehighest rate measured during a certain sampling period of a session.

In implementations, traffic flows may be considered as real-time (RT)and non-real-time (NRT) types. Real-time traffic flows may refer totraffic that has a strict delay and jitter characteristics like a voiceor video conversations. These traffic flows may be assigned the highestpriority with guaranteed bandwidth. RT traffic flows may be classifiedusing other mean besides profiling. For example, Voice over IP (VOIP)may be setup by identifying the flow with a SIP Proxy mechanism andappropriately creating the VoIP call RT flows before the start of thecall.

In implementations, NRT traffic flows may be classified via profiling.NRT traffic flows may refer to traffic flows such as interactivetraffic, streaming traffic, and bulk traffic. An interactive flow may becharacterized as a non-real-time flow that involves user interaction.For example, it may refer to web browsing, online gaming, onlinebanking, etc. Because these traffic flows have a strong element of userinteraction, they may be classified as an interactive service class witha higher priority than the other two non-real-time priorities, and haslower latency when compared to the other two service classes. Astreaming traffic flow may have a lower (i.e., less stringent) latencyrequirement than the transactional traffic flow because the streamingapplication typically fills up a large buffer before playback. A bulktraffic flow may be delay tolerant, and hence be assigned the lowestpriority traffic class. In implementations, with statisticalclassification, a few boundaries may be set for interactive, streamingand bulk traffic based on a few statistical characteristics. Afterward,based on the captured profile of a traffic session, what class thesession belongs to may be determined.

In some implementations, traffic flow classification module 321 oranother module of computer readable medium(s) 320 may be configured tocharacterize the typical traffic patterns or traffic flows associatedwith a user device. This characterization may be utilized by the systemto identify devices that are behaving out of their intended use/norm.For example, consider the case of Internet of Things (IoT) devices thatact autonomously with no user interaction. One such device may be asmart solar panel that uploads a batch of data once a day to acentralized server regarding information related to power usage. If thesolar panel is compromised by a computer virus, the virus may launch aDenial of Service attack by transmitting large amounts of data at alltimes of the day to some Internet host. The module may be utilized torecognize this new traffic pattern (i.e., bigger upload rates for longerperiods of time) and alert the user (e.g., through a web interface) thatthe device is acting out of the norm and that something may be wrong.

HCM 322 is configured to implement a traffic flow analyzer for eachlocal host (e.g., associated with each user device 200) to classify eachTCP connection application type seen, and count the number ofapplication types of each TCP connection application type seen. In someimplementations, traffic flows may be analyzed both for local hostsassociated with user devices 200 and remote hosts (e.g., host 40)communicating with user devices 200. Each time a new TCP connectionapplication type is detected for a host, a counter associated with theapplication type may be incremented. These statistics may be stored in anumber of data structures, referred to herein as “buckets,” thatcumulatively represent a configurable tracking time window (e.g.,seconds, minutes, hours, or days) for the host. These data structuresmay be of configurable size (e.g., in seconds). A conceptualillustration of a bucket 600 is shown in FIG. 4 , which stores counts ofapplication types seen along with packet loss statistics. As illustratedin the implementation of FIG. 4 , HCM 322 may classify TCP connectionsas belonging to one of five application types or categories:transactional; interactive; streaming; bulk; or default. A transactionalapplication type may correspond to TCP connection having a shortconnection time (e.g., a few bytes of data such as instant messages). Aninteractive application type may correspond to a TCP connection such asweb browsing. A streaming application type may correspond to a TCPconnection that carries streaming video or audio data. A bulkapplication type may correspond to a TCP connection that carries a largeamount of data (e.g., file transfer of a movie, video game, or otherlarge file). A default application type may correspond to a TCPconnection that cannot be identified as having a particularclassification.

It should be noted that although the TCP application types describedherein are primarily described with reference to these fiveaforementioned application types, these TCP application types areexemplary and other categorizations may be used. For example, thegrouping or number of application types may vary. Particular methods ofclassifying TCP connections are further described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. Nos. 15/344,684 and 15/348,837, which are incorporatedherein by reference.

In one implementation, for each host a data structure may be used tostore accumulated statistics from all buckets and an identification ofthe host. This data structure may be referred to as a “tracking controlblock.” This is illustrated by FIG. 5 , which illustrates a trackingcontrol block 500 of a host having a tracking window including aplurality of recent buckets 400. As illustrated, the host trackingcontrol block 500 stores counts of application types seen and packetloss statistics over the tracking window for the host. Additionally, thehost tracking control block 500 stores a Host IP Address, a HostLocation (i.e., whether the host is local or remote), and a bucket listpointer. As previously noted, the number of recent buckets (i.e.,tracking window size) may be configurable and depend on the type of host(e.g., local versus remote host). Different size buckets and trackingwindows may be used for local and remote hosts because local hosts maychange which applications they are using relatively quickly whereasremote (e.g., Internet) hosts are generally dedicated to a specific setof applications. For a current bucket 400, each time a statistic isincremented, the corresponding stat is also incremented in the trackingcontrol block 500.

In the example implementation of FIG. 5 , when a current statisticsbucket reaches its time limit, a new tracking bucket is created andadded to the end of the tracking window. This process is illustrated byFIG. 6 . As shown, if the tracking window is full (i.e. the trackingwindow already has the maximum number of buckets), tracking controlblock 500 may be updated such that at the same time the new bucket isadded, the counts from the oldest bucket are subtracted from thetracking control block 500, the oldest bucket is discarded, and thebucket list pointer is updated. Additionally, packet loss statisticsfrom the oldest bucket are removed.

HCM 322 may periodically calculate a recent dominant host applicationtype (RDHAT) for each host at different target periods (e.g., during abusy period, non-busy period, idle period) using the historical datagathered via the tracking control blocks. By doing this, devicecharacteristics may be determined at different target periods. Based onthe device characteristics determinations, flows originating from thedevice at a particular time period may be more appropriately classifiedsuch that the appropriate bandwidth allocation may be triggered just intime for the flow so that the jitter and delay characteristics may begreatly improved.

Implementations described below are directed to the derivation of aRecent Dominant Host Application Type (RDHAT) value, which returns themostly frequently used recent application type by a host.

Following the above example application categorization of FIGS. 4-6 ,when the HCM 322 is called to request information about two hostsinvolved in a TCP connection, the value returned may be one of:Transactional; Interactive; Streaming; Bulk; Default; Mixed; Not EnoughSamples; or Unknown. In the case of Unknown, HCM 322 may have no entryin its database for either of the specified host IP addresses. In thecase of Mixed, HCM 322 may have an entry for at least one of the hostsin its database, but not one type of application meets the criteria tobe defined as dominant. In the case of Not Enough Samples, HCM 322 mayhave an entry in its database for at least one of the hosts but not haveenough samples to make a reasonable application type judgment. In thecase of Default, an application type determination may not have beenmade for either of the hosts.

FIG. 7 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method700 of determining a RDHAT value, in accordance with implementations ofthe disclosure. Prior to implementing method 700 satellite modem 200 mayreceive an IP message including a TCP segment from a local host,determine an IP Address of the local host (and optionally, the remotehost), and query HCM 322 for the RDHAT value of the local host and/orthe remote host. At operation 710, HCM 322 may search for the host IPAddress in a database. If the host IP Address is not found (decision720), HCM 322 may return an Unknown value at operation 725.

Otherwise, if the host IP address is found (decision 720), at decision730 HCM 322 may determine if there are enough application type samples.In implementations, a configurable, minimum number of connection sampleswithin a tracking window (e.g., the tracking window illustrated by FIG.5 ) may be required to calculate a valid RDHAT. For example, a defaultvalue of 10 may be set. If fewer than the minimum number of connectionsamples have been seen for the host within a tracking window, atoperation 735 a Not Enough Samples RDHAT value for the host may bereturned.

Otherwise, if there are enough application type samples, at operation740 a determination is made as to which application type has the mostsamples (i.e., counts). At decision 750, it is determined if there aretwo or more application types that have the same value for the mostentries. If there are, at decision 755 a Mixed application type valuemay be returned. Otherwise, at decision 760 a determination is made asto whether there are enough application type samples to be dominant. Inimplementations, this determination may be made by dividing theconnection application type with the highest count by the total numberof each TCP connection application type seen for the remote host overthe second time window; and value is greater than or equal to thethreshold, then the connection application type may be considereddominant and returned at operation 770 as the host's RDHAT for thecurrent time window. Otherwise, if the value is less than the threshold,at operation 755 a Mixed value may be returned.

As noted above, in some implementations, a RDHAT value may be calculatedfor both the local host and remote host. FIG. 8 is an operational flowdiagram illustrating an example method 800 for calculating a final RDHATvalue when an RDHAT value is calculated for both the local host andremote host. At operation 810, a RDHAT value may be calculated for boththe local host and remote host following the process of method 700. Atdecision 820, it is determined whether the RDHAT value is the same foreach host. If the RDHAT value is the same, then at operation 830 theRDHAT value shared by the hosts may be returned. However, in someinstances, the RDHAT value may not be the same for the local host andthe remote host. In such cases, one option would be to return a MixedRDHAT value when the two values do not agree. However, a moreintelligent estimate may be provided by choosing between the RDHAT valueof the local host or remote host (operation 840). In one implementation,the choice may be based on a confidence level determined by the numberof samples available for each host and/or the percentage of samples ofeach host that of the dominant application type. Alternatively, inanother implementation, the more conservative RDHAT value between thetwo may be chosen.

The FSCM 323 is configured to track per device information related tothe local network packet draining characteristics of the user device200. Particularly, FSCM 323 is configured to determine a maximum rate atwhich a user device can receive data. In this manner, FSCM 323 mayensure that enough packets are buffered to support the throughputrequirement of the device to meet the service level agreement (SLA) andto ensure that the slow draining devices do not hog buffer resourcesthat affects the effective throughput of the other devices connected tothe modem. The FSCM 323 may be utilized to remember the rate at whicheach device can receive data, such that hosts on the internet arerate-limited to send data to the device at a rate at which the devicecan consume the data.

To understand the operation FSCM 323, it is instructive consider theproblems that may arise when there is a “slow device.” In such ascenario, the traffic originating from the Internet and destined for theslow device may be coming into the modem at a high rate. If the slowdevice is draining the traffic at a slower rate than which it is cominginto the modem, the traffic needs to be buffered in the modem. However,because of the limited memory resources that may be available in themodem, this buffering operation may come at the expense of otherdevices. By queueing more data for the slow device, there may be lessless available buffer resources for the other devices. By implementingFSCM 323 to remember the maximum rate at which a device can receivedata, an attempt may be made to match the rate at which the Internethost is sending traffic to avoid unnecessary buffering at the modem(e.g., through methods such as TCP window size adjustment, implementedon the IPGW).

Like the HCM 322, the FSCM 323 may maintain the flow rate per devicestatistics in bucket data structures. Both the short term (e.g., 30minutes, hour, a few hours, etc.) and long term (e.g., 5 days, 7 days, 9days, etc.) statistics may be maintained and used for the classificationof the flow from a particular device. FSCM 323 may use the historicaldata pertaining to a flow from a particular device to predict theservice type of the connection. For example, a flow from an IoT devicemay be differentiated against a web browsing session even though bothdevices use the same type of connection (e.g., TCP) and possibly thesame port number (e.g., port 443).

FIG. 9 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an example flowcontrol method 900 of utilizing a modem to allocate bandwidth to trafficflows based on the traffic flows and characteristics of the user devicesassociated with the traffic flows, in accordance with implementations ofthe disclosure. For example method 900 may be implemented by modem 300executing flow control instructions 324. In some instances, modem 300may also execute instructions associated with one or more of trafficflow characterization module 321 and HCM 322. Method 900 will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 10 , which illustrates a queuingstructure that may be utilized at the modem to provide flow control.

At operation 910, a plurality of traffic flows transmitted by aplurality of user devices are received. For example, as depicted by FIG.10 , the modem may receive traffic flows from five different userdevices. Some of the user devices may transmit multiple traffic flows.In implementations where the router is a separate device from the modem,the traffic flows may be received by the router and subsequentlyforwarded to the modem.

At operation 920, the modem determines a user device of the user devicesthat is associated with each of the traffic flows. In someimplementations, a modem 300 may determine a source IP address and/ordestination IP address of each of the traffic flows, and using NAT table325 and/or ARP table 326, map the traffic flow to a particular userdevice 200.

At operation 930, the modem classifies each of the traffic flowsaccording to a class of service associated with a traffic class. Forinstance, as depicted in the example of FIG. 10 , the modem classifiestraffic in four different priority classes (Conversational, Interactive,Streaming and Bulk). Each class of service may be associated with atraffic class via a previously established configuration (e.g., into oneof the four traffic classes discussed above).

In some implementations, traffic flows may be classified based on theincoming traffic characteristics (e.g., profile) using traffic flowclassification module 321. For example, traffic flows may be classifiedbased on their inter burst arrival time and burst sizes. In particularimplementations, traffic flows may be classified by determining atraffic profile including: average throughput, session duration, ON/OFFduration, ON/OFF ratio, and maximum throughput rate.

In some implementations, traffic flows are classified using the HCM 322described above. In some implementations, HCM 322 may be used toclassify a traffic flow based on a remote host's RDHAT. For example,consider a device that repeatedly establishes a connection to afile-sharing web server. By observing from the recent history of thedevice that the remote host's RDHAT is Bulk, the traffic flow may beimmediately classified as bulk without having to wait for traffic flowclassification module 321 to determine the classification (e.g., bysampling burst inter-arrivals, which takes time). In someimplementations, HCM 322 may be used to classify a traffic flow based ona local host's RDHAT. For example, consider a smart TV that is connectedto the modem and establishes a connection to a previously unseen remotehost. By observing that the TV's RDHAT is Streaming, the traffic flowmay be assigned to the Streaming traffic class. In some implementations,HCM 322 may be used to classify a traffic flow based on both a remotehost's RDHAT and a local host's RDHAT as described above with respect tomethod 800.

In some implementations, each traffic flow is classified based on thefour tuple: source IP address, source port, destination IP address,destination port. In some instances, a combination of the aforementionedtechniques may be used to classify the traffic flows. For example, ifthe four tuple is insufficient to classify the traffic flow, statisticalprofiling may be implemented using module 321 to classify the flow.

In some implementations, current network conditions may also beconsidered for classifying each traffic flow. In such implementations,the boundary of the class of service used for classification purposesmay depend on current network conditions. For example, in the case of asatellite backhaul network the available bandwidth may be lower due torain fade condition, and in this case the boundary for each serviceclass may shrink, downgrading an otherwise interactive class flow to astreaming class flow.

In some implementations a two-pass approach may be utilized for flowclassification. In the first pass, a flow may be classified solely basedon its profile, traffic flow behavior and/or traffic flow host basedhistory. In the second pass, the boundary of the service class may bedetermined based on the network condition and the actual current trafficvolume and the configured bandwidth for the service class. With this twopass scheme, enough traffic may be classified to the appropriate trafficclass corresponding to the current network condition and the configuredreserved bandwidth for that class.

In some implementations, any suitable combination of traffic flowclassification techniques described above (e.g., using traffic flowclassification module 321, HCM 322, etc.) may be utilized.

The determination of a traffic flow's CoS may be based on one or moreattributes or metrics. For example, the CoS may be determined based onthe device from which the flow originated. For example, a user'spersonal laptop may be placed on the high-priority CoS, whereas an IoTdevice might be placed on a low-priority CoS. Additional metrics mayinclude the time of day when the flow was established, the destinationserver address, or some combination thereof.

In some implementations, CoS weights and the mappings between CoS's andtraffic classes may be configured. Take an example where CoS5 and CoS6of FIG. 10 are mapped to the Bulk traffic class with weights 80% and 20%respectively. CoS5 may be considered be the high-priority Bulk CoSwhereas CoS6 may be the low-priority Bulk CoS.

At operation 940, the modem allocates bandwidth to each of the trafficflows based on the traffic flow's class of service and the user deviceassociated with the traffic flow.

In some implementations, prior to allocating bandwidth, the trafficflows are organized on a per device basis within their determinedrespective traffic class. In some implementations, traffic flowsbelonging to the conversational class are not grouped on a device basisbecause the uplink bandwidth for these flows may be allocated during theflow setup phase and the flow characteristics is such that the rate isconstant and predetermined.

In some implementations, bandwidth is allocated to each flow based on i)the priority or weight associated with each class of service; and ii) apriority or weight associated with each user device. For example, forflows associated with CoS having the same priority, higher prioritydevices or higher weighted devices may be assigned more bandwidth fortheir respective flow. In some implementations, the bandwidth allocatedto each flow may also take into account the number of active flowsassociated with each device. For example, to ensure equitabledistribution of bandwidth, a device having three active streaming flowsmay be assigned less bandwidth for each of the three streaming flows ascompared to the amount of bandwidth assigned to a streaming flowassociated with a device that has only one active streaming flow.

In some implementations, the priorities or weights assigned to CoS,and/or the priorities or weights assigned to user devices may beconfigured via a user interface that may be accessed by an administratorof the modem. For example, the administrator may access a web-basedgraphical user interface via a webpage (e.g., by typing in IP address192.168.100.1 or other appropriate IP address in the web address controlof a web browser). Via the user interface, the administrator mayconfigure the aforementioned parameters. In some implementations, theparameters may be configured based on the day of the week, date, and/ortime. In some implementations the user interface may identify each userdevice with an active connection along with active flows associated witheach device. The user interface may also display classifications of theflows.

In some implementations, depicted by FIG. 10 , the modem maintains layer3 CoS queues (e.g., supporting up to 64 different class-of-services) andlayer 2 priority queues (e.g., Conversational, Interactive, Streamingand Bulk queues). In this queuing structure, flow control is implementedby maintaining enough data within layer 2 and layer 3 queues, furtherdescribed below, such that there is enough data for transmission, whilenot allowing the modem to be overwhelmed by incoming traffic. The dataqueued for each device may provide for equitable distribution ofavailable bandwidth among all connected devices. In this implementation,the input to flow control may include the amount of data queued in layer2 and layer 3 queues, as well as the over the air allocated bandwidthaveraged over time. Latency metrics may be used to regulate the packetdropping rate and the window size adjustment. Incoming packets mayclassified as one of the CoS as specified by the various classificationmethods, and queued into the appropriate layer 3 CoS queue. Each of theCoS may be mapped to a layer 2 priority queue (e.g., Conversational,Interactive, Streaming and Bulk).

FIG. 11 illustrates an example method 1100 for distributing/assigningbandwidth to user flows as a function of the flow's traffic class, classof service, and the user device from which the flow originated, inaccordance with implementations of the disclosure. Method 1100 may beimplemented during operation 940, discussed above. Method 1100 may beimplemented to assign bandwidth to user flows such that all allocatedbandwidth is used, available bandwidth is distributed in such a way thatlower priority traffic is not starved, and bandwidth is fairlydistributed based on corresponding CoS and user device weights. FIG. 11will be described in conjunction with FIG. 12 , which illustrates oneparticular example implementation of method 1100.

At operation 1110, bandwidth from the total available bandwidth isdistributed/assigned to each of the traffic classes associated with thetraffic flows based on a configured minimum bandwidth for each of thetraffic classes. In implementations, the minimum bandwidth is configuredas a minimum bandwidth percentage to avoid starvation of lower prioritytraffic. For example, as depicted by FIG. 12 , if the traffic flowscomprise Interactive, Streaming, and Bulk traffic classes, the minimumbandwidth percentages may be configured such that the percentages are20%, 20%, and 60% for Interactive, Streaming, and Bulk respectively.

For example, taking U_(i)(t) as the total available bandwidth with theminimum bandwidth percentage for traffic class i applied, in the exampleof FIG. 12 the Available Bandwidth=U₁(t)+U₂ (t)+U₃ (t), whereInteractive available bandwidth=U₁(t), Streaming available bandwidth=U₂(t), and Bulk available bandwidth=U₃ (t). Particular mathematicalimplementations of flow control algorithms for distributing availablebandwidth to each of the traffic classes associated with the trafficflows are further described below.

At operation 1120, the bandwidth distributed/assigned to each of thetraffic classes is distributed/assigned to the classes of servicesmapping to that traffic class. This distribution may be weighted (e.g.,CoS1 and CoS2 in the example of FIG. 12 ) or equally distributed (e.g.CoS4 and CoS5 in the example of FIG. 12 ). If only one class of serviceis mapped to a traffic class (e.g. CoS3 in the example of FIG. 12 ),then that class of service may receive the entirety of the bandwidthassigned to the traffic class.

At operation 1130, the bandwidth distributed/assigned to each of theclasses of services is distributed/assigned to each user device withineach of the classes of services. Bandwidth distributed to a given CoSmay be distributed to a user device based on a weight or priority toeach user device. For example, as depicted in FIG. 12 , Device1 isassigned 80% of the bandwidth for a given CoS and Device2 is assigned20% of the bandwidth for a given CoS.

At operation 1140, the bandwidth distributed/assigned to each of theuser devices for a given CoS is equally distributed to all flowsoriginating from that Device/CoS combination. For example, as depictedby FIG. 12 , if Device1 has two active flows sending traffic on CoS1,then each flow receives an allocation of 1200/2=600 bytes, from thetotal available 10000 bytes. If a device has only one active flowsending traffic on a particular CoS, then that active flow receives thefull allocation for that device/CoS combination. In implementationswhere no user device has more than one active flow sending traffic for agiven CoS, operation 1140 may be skipped.

In some implementations, bandwidth is allocated by modem 300 by using aflow-control algorithm in conjunction with a scheduling algorithm. Theflow-control algorithm determines a sufficient amount of data to bequeued up in Layer 2 such that the allocated uplink bandwidth is fullyutilized. For example, the flow control algorithm may be used todetermine, at a certain time t, that a certain amount of data may bemoved into a certain traffic class (e.g. can enqueue 2000 bytes into theInteractive traffic class layer 2 queue). The scheduling algorithm maydetermine the amount of data to be moved from Layer 3 to Layer 2 suchthat all the devices within a CoS are treated equitably with respect tothe device's configured weight. The scheduling algorithm may be runevery time a data packet is to be sent. For example, the schedulingalgorithm may be implemented as discussed above with reference to method1100.

In some implementations, the scheduling algorithm is a two-passscheduling algorithm that is run for each incoming data packet. Duringthe first pass, the available allocated bandwidth is distributed to userflows as a function of the flow's traffic class, class of service, andthe user device from which the flow originated, as discussed above withreference to method 1100. During the second pass, any leftover bandwidthmay be distributed in a round robin scheme in strict priority order. Forexample, referring to FIG. 12 , Device 1's allocation on CoS1 is 1200bytes and Device 2's allocation is 300 bytes. If the flow originatingfrom Device 2 only has 200 bytes to transmit, then the remaining 100bytes allocated to Device 2 can be distributed to the flows originatingfrom Device 1.

In some implementations, the flow control algorithm may bemathematically implemented as follows. Given M traffic classes (e.g.,M=3 by default), define V_(L2,max) ^((i)) and V_(L2) ^((i))(t) to be thebuffer limit and instant queue length at time t for traffic class i,respectively, i=1, . . . , M. Let a fairness period be defined as Kframes. Let the minimum bandwidth percentage of traffic class i bedefined as ω_(i), with 0≤ω_(i)≤100 and ω₁+ω₂+ . . . +ω_(M)=100. Themaximum buffer size for each priority is taken as

${V_{{L2},\max}^{(i)} = {a \cdot K \cdot {C_{Avg}(t)} \cdot \frac{\omega_{i}}{100}}},$

i=1, . . . , M where a≥1 is a configurable scaling factor, andC_(Avg)(t) is defined below in Equation (7). Denote the data amount fromlayer 3 to layer 2 at a given time tin units of bits per second asU_(i)(t), i=1, . . . , M. The L3 queue servicing procedure may beimplemented by following Equations (1)-(6), below.

For the highest priority (“priority 1”) traffic (e.g., interactiveclass), define the following flowing amount:

U ₁(t)=min[V _(L3) ⁽¹⁾(t),V _(L2,max) ⁽¹⁾ −V _(L2) ⁽¹⁾(t−1)]  (1)

Where, V refers to the queuing size associated with priority 1 trafficfor a given layer as a function of time. The updated layer 2 queuelength for priority 1 traffic is given by:

V _(L2) ⁽¹⁾(t)=V _(L2) ⁽¹⁾(t−1)+U ₁(t)  (2)

For the intermediate priority (“priority 2”) traffic (e.g., streamingclass), define the following flowing amount:

U ₂(t)=min[V _(L3) ⁽²⁾(t),V _(L2,max) ⁽²⁾ −V _(L2) ⁽²⁾(t−1)]  (3)

Where, the updated layer 2 queue length for priority 2 traffic is givenby:

V _(L2) ⁽²⁾(t)=V _(L2) ⁽²⁾(t−1)+U ₂(t)  (4)

For the lowest priority (“priority 3”) traffic (e.g., bulk class),define the following flowing amount:

U ₃(t)=min[V _(L3) ⁽³⁾(t),V _(L2,max) ⁽³⁾ −V _(L2) ⁽³⁾(t−1)]  (5)

Where, the updated layer 2 queue length for priority 3 traffic is givenby:

V _(L2) ⁽³⁾(t)=V _(L2) ⁽³⁾(t−1)+U ₃(t)  (6)

Although the foregoing example is described in the context of threetraffic classes, it should be appreciated that it may be generalized toany number of traffic classes where the flowing amount for priority itraffic is given by U_(i)(t) and the updated layer 2 queue length forpriority i traffic is given by V_(L2) ^((i))(t). The flow controlalgorithm determines the amount of queued data to be moved from L3 toL2. A priority-based round robin over all of the flow's in each trafficclass may then be performed. The amount of data pulled from L3 to L2 isin a granularity of a layer 3 packet. In other words, when moving datafrom a Layer 3 queue to a Layer 2 traffic class queue, a packet is notfragmented.

In implementations, a delay-based random early drop (RED) algorithm,with window size adjustment, may be applied in the L3 flow controlalgorithm to determine the amount of data to be placed into the Layer 3queues. Traditionally, RED algorithms are based on the queue size, whichassumes that the link capacity is fairly constant over a period of time.However, in a satellite network, the uplink capacity may vary widely.Accordingly, the RED algorithm may be based on the queuing delay. Inaccordance with some implementations, the queuing delay for eachpriority of traffic may be calculated as follows. At time t, denote thelink capacity in bytes as C(t). For traffic class i, denote theaggregate queue size in bytes as Q_(i)(t), and the number of bytestransmitted as S_(i)(t).

First, the average link capacity may be calculated in bytes based onEquation (7):

C _(Avg)(t)=α·C(t)+(1−α)·C _(Avg)(t−1), 0<α≤1  (7)

Second, the average aggregate queue size for each priority of trafficmay be calculated in bytes based on Equation (8):

Q _(i,Avg)(t)=α·Q _(i)(t)+(1−α)·Q _(i,Avg)(t−1), 0<α≤1,i=1,2, . . .,M  (8)

Third, the average number of bytes transmitted per priority of trafficmay be calculated based on equation (9):

S _(i,Avg)(t)=α·S _(i)(t)+(1−α)·S _(i,Avg)(t−1), 0<α≤1, i=1,2, . . .,M  (9)

In Equations (7-9), α is a configurable smoothing factor.

Given Equations (7)-(9), the queueing delay (in frames), may becalculated for priority 1 based on Equation (10), priority 2 based onEquation (11), and priority 3 based on Equation (12).

$\begin{matrix}{{D_{1}(t)} = {\frac{Q_{1,{Avg}}(t)}{\max\left\lbrack {C_{\min},{C_{Avg}(t)}} \right\rbrack} \cdot N_{{super} - {frame}}}} & (10) \\{{D_{1}(t)} = {\frac{Q_{2,{Avg}}(t)}{\max\left\lbrack {C_{\min},{{C_{Avg}(t)} - {S_{1,{Avg}}(t)}}} \right\rbrack} \cdot N_{{super} - {frame}}}} & (11) \\{{D_{3}(t)} = {\frac{Q_{3,{Avg}}(t)}{\max\left\lbrack {C_{\min},{{C_{Avg}(t)} - {S_{1,{Avg}}(t)} - {S_{2,{Avg}}(t)}}} \right\rbrack} \cdot N_{{super} - {frame}}}} & (12)\end{matrix}$

Where N_(super-frame) refers to n-time-cycles and C_(min) is aconfigurable value representing the minimum link capacity. This examplemethod of calculation provides more weight for higher priority traffic.

Thereafter, the average queuing delay for each priority may be estimatedbased on Equation (13):

D _(i,Avg)(t)=β·D _(i)(t)+(1−β)·D _(i,Avg)(t−1), 0<β≤1  (13)

Where β is a configurable smoothing factor.

Subsequently, for each priority class, the estimated average queuingdelay is used to determine a respective dropping probability. Minimumand maximum delay values for each priority class may be configured basedon network characteristics, as defined by Equation (14).

$\begin{matrix}{{{{{If}{D_{Avg}(t)}} \leq D_{\min}},{{P_{RED} = 0};}}{{{{If}D_{\min}} < {D_{Avg}(t)} \leq D_{\max}},{{P_{RED} = {P_{\max} \cdot \frac{{D_{Avg}(t)} - D_{\min}}{D_{\max} - D_{\min}}}};}}{{{{If}{D_{Avg}(t)}} > D_{\max}},{P_{RED} = {P_{\max}.}}}} & (14)\end{matrix}$

Where D_(max) and D_(min) are the respective maximum and minimum delaybounds, and P_(max) is a configurable value representing the maximumdropping probability.

RED has innate oscillation characteristics. In some implementations, inorder to minimize the oscillations, especially in the case ofaccelerated flows, RED coupled with Adaptive Window size adjustment(AWA) may be used. This may yield a much improved stability in the datathroughput rate. Each traffic class may apply its own RED algorithm forcontrolling the amount of traffic queued in the Layer 3 queues. A taildropping method may be used to control the incoming un-acceleratedtraffic and RED-AWA may be used in controlling accelerated traffic.

FIG. 13 illustrates a computer system/communication device 1300 uponwhich example embodiments according to the present disclosure can beimplemented. Computer system 1300 can include a bus 1302 or othercommunication mechanism for communicating information, and a processor1304 coupled to bus 1302 for processing information. Computer system1300 may also include main memory 1306, such as a random access memory(RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus 1302 for storinginformation and instructions to be executed by processor 1304. Mainmemory 1306 can also be used for storing temporary variables or otherintermediate information during execution of instructions to be executedby processor 1304. Computer system 1300 may further include a read onlymemory (ROM) 1308 or other static storage device coupled to bus 1302 forstoring static information and instructions for processor 1304. Astorage device 1310, such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, mayadditionally be coupled to bus 1302 for storing information andinstructions.

According to one embodiment of the disclosure, traffic flow control maybe provided by computer system 1300 in response to processor 1304executing an arrangement of instructions contained in main memory 1306.Such instructions can be read into main memory 1306 from anothercomputer-readable medium, such as storage device 1310. Execution of thearrangement of instructions contained in main memory 1306 causesprocessor 1304 to perform one or more processes described herein. One ormore processors in a multi-processing arrangement may also be employedto execute the instructions contained in main memory 1306. Inalternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry is used in place of or incombination with software instructions to implement various embodiments.Thus, embodiments described in the present disclosure are not limited toany specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

Computer system 1300 may also include a communication interface 1318coupled to bus 1302. Communication interface 1318 can provide a two-waydata communication coupling to a network link 1320 connected to a localnetwork 1322. Wired and/or wireless links may be implemented. In anysuch implementation, communication interface 1318 sends and receiveselectrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals that carry digital datastreams representing various types of information.

Network link 1320 may provide data communication through one or morenetworks to other data devices. By way of example, network link 1320 canprovide a connection through local area network 1322 to network devices,for example including a host computer (PC) 1324, a smartphone 1326, andthe like. Local area network 1322 may both use electrical,electromagnetic, or optical signals to convey information andinstructions. The signals through the various networks and the signalson network link 1320 and through communication interface 1318, whichcommunicate digital data with computer system 1300, are example forms ofcarrier waves bearing the information and instructions.

Computer system 1300 may send messages and receive data, includingprogram code, through the network(s), network link 1320, andcommunication interface 1318. In the Internet example, a server (notshown) might transmit requested code belonging to an application programfor implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure through localnetwork 1322 and communication interface 1318. Processor 1304 executesthe transmitted code while being received and/or store the code instorage device 1310, or other non-volatile storage for later execution.In this manner, computer system 1300 obtains application code in theform of a carrier wave.

Computer system 1300 includes equipment for communication with anexternal communications network. In particular, the computer system 1300may include a transmit-side physical-layer device (TX PHY) 1331, areceive-side physical-layer device (RX PHY) 1332, a transmit-side mediaaccess controller (TX MAC) 1333, and a receive-side media accesscontroller (RX MAC) 1334. Transmit packets may be provided to the TX MAC1333 and TX PHY 1331, which provide corresponding signals to theexternal communications network 1350. For example, in a satellitecommunications network, TX MAC may be a TX satellite link controller(SLC), and TX PHY 1331 may provide corresponding signals to a satelliteusing a terrestrial antenna/dish. Signals received from an externalcommunications network 1350 may be received via RX PHY 1332 and RX MAC1334, from which receive packets may be obtained.

FIG. 14 illustrates a chip set 1400 in which embodiments of thedisclosure may be implemented. Chip set 1400 can include, for instance,processor and memory components described with respect to FIG. 2 or FIG.13 incorporated in one or more physical packages. By way of example, aphysical package includes an arrangement of one or more materials,components, and/or wires on a structural assembly (e.g., a baseboard) toprovide one or more characteristics such as physical strength,conservation of size, and/or limitation of electrical interaction.

In one embodiment, chip set 1400 includes a communication mechanism suchas a bus 1002 for passing information among the components of the chipset 1400. A processor 1404 has connectivity to bus 1402 to executeinstructions and process information stored in a memory 1406. Processor1404 includes one or more processing cores with each core configured toperform independently. A multi-core processor enables multiprocessingwithin a single physical package. Examples of a multi-core processorinclude two, four, eight, or greater numbers of processing cores.Alternatively or in addition, processor 1404 includes one or moremicroprocessors configured in tandem via bus 1402 to enable independentexecution of instructions, pipelining, and multithreading. Processor1404 may also be accompanied with one or more specialized components toperform certain processing functions and tasks such as one or moredigital signal processors (DSP) 1408, and/or one or moreapplication-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) 1410. DSP 1408 cantypically be configured to process real-world signals (e.g., sound) inreal time independently of processor 1404. Similarly, ASIC 1410 can beconfigured to performed specialized functions not easily performed by ageneral purposed processor. Other specialized components to aid inperforming the inventive functions described herein include one or morefield programmable gate arrays (FPGA) (not shown), one or morecontrollers (not shown), or one or more other special-purpose computerchips.

Processor 1404 and accompanying components have connectivity to thememory 1406 via bus 1402. Memory 1406 includes both dynamic memory(e.g., RAM) and static memory (e.g., ROM) for storing executableinstructions that, when executed by processor 1404, DSP 1408, and/orASIC 1410, perform the process of example embodiments as describedherein. Memory 1406 also stores the data associated with or generated bythe execution of the process.

In this document, the terms “machine readable medium,” “computerreadable medium,” and similar terms are used to generally refer tonon-transitory mediums, volatile or non-volatile, that store data and/orinstructions that cause a machine to operate in a specific fashion.Common forms of machine readable media include, for example, a harddisk, solid state drive, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic datastorage medium, an optical disc or any other optical data storagemedium, any physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM,EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, any other memory chip or cartridge, andnetworked versions of the same.

These and other various forms of computer readable media may be involvedin carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to aprocessing device for execution. Such instructions embodied on themedium, are generally referred to as “instructions” or “code.”Instructions may be grouped in the form of computer programs or othergroupings. When executed, such instructions may enable a processingdevice to perform features or functions of the present application asdiscussed herein.

In this document, a “processing device” may be implemented as a singleprocessor that performs processing operations or a combination ofspecialized and/or general-purpose processors that perform processingoperations. A processing device may include a CPU, GPU, APU, DSP, FPGA,ASIC, SOC, and/or other processing circuitry.

The various embodiments set forth herein are described in terms ofexemplary block diagrams, flow charts and other illustrations. As willbecome apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading thisdocument, the illustrated embodiments and their various alternatives canbe implemented without confinement to the illustrated examples. Forexample, block diagrams and their accompanying description should not beconstrued as mandating a particular architecture or configuration.

Each of the processes, methods, and algorithms described in thepreceding sections may be embodied in, and fully or partially automatedby, code components executed by one or more computer systems or computerprocessors comprising computer hardware. The processes and algorithmsmay be implemented partially or wholly in application-specificcircuitry. The various features and processes described above may beused independently of one another, or may be combined in various ways.Different combinations and sub-combinations are intended to fall withinthe scope of this disclosure, and certain method or process blocks maybe omitted in some implementations. Additionally, unless the contextdictates otherwise, the methods and processes described herein are alsonot limited to any particular sequence, and the blocks or statesrelating thereto can be performed in other sequences that areappropriate, or may be performed in parallel, or in some other manner.Blocks or states may be added to or removed from the disclosed exampleembodiments. The performance of certain of the operations or processesmay be distributed among computer systems or computers processors, notonly residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number ofmachines.

As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive orexclusive sense. Moreover, the description of resources, operations, orstructures in the singular shall not be read to exclude the plural.Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps.

Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations thereof, unlessotherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open ended as opposedto limiting. Adjectives such as “conventional,” “traditional,” “normal,”“standard,” “known,” and terms of similar meaning should not beconstrued as limiting the item described to a given time period or to anitem available as of a given time, but instead should be read toencompass conventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologiesthat may be available or known now or at any time in the future. Thepresence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “atleast,” “but not limited to” or other like phrases in some instancesshall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or requiredin instances where such broadening phrases may be absent.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving a plurality oftraffic flows transmitted by a plurality of user devices over a localarea network comprising the plurality of user devices and a modem;determining, at the modem, a user device of the plurality of userdevices that transmitted each traffic flow of the plurality of trafficflows; classifying, at the modem, each traffic flow of the plurality oftraffic flows as being associated with a class of service and a trafficclass, the plurality of traffic flows being classified as belonging to aplurality of classes of service and a plurality of traffic classes; anddistributing, at the modem, available bandwidth between the plurality oftraffic flows based on the plurality of traffic classes, the pluralityof classes of service, and the plurality of user devices by:distributing, to each traffic flow of the plurality of traffic flows, aportion of the available bandwidth based on the class of serviceassociated with the traffic flow, the traffic class associated with thetraffic flow, and the user device that transmitted the traffic flow. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein: distributing the available bandwidthbetween the plurality of traffic flows comprises: determining, at apoint in time, an amount of data to be moved from a plurality of layer 3queues to a respective plurality layer 2 queues; each of the pluralityof layer 3 queues is associated with a respective one of the pluralityof traffic classes; and each of the plurality of layer 2 queues isassociated with a respective one of the plurality of traffic classes. 3.The method of claim 2, wherein distributing the available bandwidthbetween the plurality of traffic flows comprises: determining, at thepoint in time, a length of each of the plurality of layer 2 queues. 4.The method of claim 2, wherein: distributing the available bandwidthbetween the plurality of traffic flows comprises: determining an amountof data to be placed in each of the plurality of layer 3 queues based ona queuing delay determined for each of the plurality of traffic classes.5. The method of claim 1, wherein: each traffic class of the pluralityof traffic classes has a configured minimum bandwidth; and distributingthe portion of the available bandwidth to each traffic flow of theplurality of traffic flows comprises: distributing the portion of theavailable bandwidth to the traffic flow based on the class of serviceassociated with the traffic flow, the configured minimum bandwidth ofthe traffic class associated with the traffic flow, and the user devicethat transmitted the traffic flow.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein:each user device of the plurality of user devices is assigned a priorityrelative to the other user devices of the plurality of user devices; anddistributing the portion of the available bandwidth to each traffic flowof the plurality of traffic flows comprises: distributing the portion ofthe available bandwidth to the traffic flow based on the class ofservice associated with the traffic flow, the traffic class associatedwith the traffic flow, and the priority of the user device thattransmitted the traffic flow.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein: eachtraffic class of the plurality of traffic classes is assigned a priorityrelative to the other traffic classes of the plurality of trafficclasses; and distributing the portion of the available bandwidth to eachtraffic flow of the plurality of traffic flows comprises: distributingthe portion of the available bandwidth to the traffic flow based on theclass of service associated with the traffic flow, the priority of thetraffic class associated with the traffic flow, and the priority of theuser device that transmitted the traffic flow.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein distributing the available bandwidth between the plurality oftraffic flows further comprises: after distributing to each traffic flowthe portion of the available bandwidth, distributing any leftoverbandwidth of the available bandwidth in a round robin scheme in strictpriority order.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality oftraffic classes include at least one traffic class selected from thegroup consisting of: an interactive traffic class, a streaming trafficclass, and a bulk traffic class.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein: themodem is a satellite modem; and the plurality of traffic flows aredestined for transmission over a satellite uplink.
 11. One or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructionsthat, when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause thesystem to perform operations comprising: determining, for each trafficflow of a plurality of traffic flows transmitted by a plurality of userdevices over a local area network, a user device of the plurality ofuser devices that transmitted the traffic flow; classifying each trafficflow of the plurality of traffic flows as being associated with a classof service and a traffic class, the plurality of traffic flows beingclassified as belonging to a plurality of classes of service and aplurality of traffic classes; and distributing available bandwidthbetween the plurality of traffic flows based on the plurality of trafficclasses, the plurality of classes of service, and the plurality of userdevices by: distributing, to each traffic flow of the plurality oftraffic flows, a portion of the available bandwidth based on the classof service associated with the traffic flow, the traffic classassociated with the traffic flow, and the user device that transmittedthe traffic flow.
 12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 11, wherein: distributing the available bandwidthbetween the plurality of traffic flows comprises: determining, at apoint in time, an amount of data to be moved from a plurality of layer 3queues to a respective plurality layer 2 queues; each of the pluralityof layer 3 queues is associated with a respective one of the pluralityof traffic classes; and each of the plurality of layer 2 queues isassociated with a respective one of the plurality of traffic classes.13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media ofclaim 12, wherein distributing the available bandwidth between theplurality of traffic flows comprises: determining, at the point in time,a length of each of the plurality of layer 2 queues.
 14. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein:distributing the available bandwidth between the plurality of trafficflows comprises: determining an amount of data to be placed in each ofthe plurality of layer 3 queues based on a queuing delay determined foreach of the plurality of traffic classes.
 15. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein:each traffic class of the plurality of traffic classes has a configuredminimum bandwidth; and distributing the portion of the availablebandwidth to each traffic flow of the plurality of traffic flowscomprises: distributing the portion of the available bandwidth to thetraffic flow based on the class of service associated with the trafficflow, the configured minimum bandwidth of the traffic class associatedwith the traffic flow, and the user device that transmitted the trafficflow.
 16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediaof claim 11, wherein: each user device of the plurality of user devicesis assigned a priority relative to the other user devices of theplurality of user devices; each traffic class of the plurality oftraffic classes is assigned a priority relative to the other trafficclasses of the plurality of traffic classes; and distributing theportion of the available bandwidth to each traffic flow of the pluralityof traffic flows comprises: distributing the portion of the availablebandwidth to the traffic flow based on the class of service associatedwith the traffic flow, the priority of the traffic class associated withthe traffic flow, and the priority of the user device that transmittedthe traffic flow.
 17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 11, wherein distributing the available bandwidthbetween the plurality of traffic flows further comprises: afterdistributing to each traffic flow the portion of the availablebandwidth, distributing any leftover bandwidth of the availablebandwidth in a round robin scheme in strict priority order.
 18. The oneor more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11,wherein the plurality of traffic classes include at least one trafficclass selected from the group consisting of: an interactive trafficclass, a streaming traffic class, and a bulk traffic class.
 19. Themethod of claim 1, wherein: the system is a satellite modem; and theplurality of traffic flows are destined for transmission over asatellite uplink.
 20. A satellite modem, comprising: one or moreprocessors; and one or more non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia storing instructions that, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the satellite modem to perform operations comprising:determining, for each traffic flow of a plurality of traffic flowstransmitted by a plurality of user devices over a local area network, auser device of the plurality of user devices that transmitted thetraffic flow; classifying each traffic flow of the plurality of trafficflows as being associated with a class of service and a traffic class,the plurality of traffic flows being classified as belonging to aplurality of classes of service and a plurality of traffic classes; anddistributing available bandwidth between the plurality of traffic flowsbased on the plurality of traffic classes, the plurality of classes ofservice, and the plurality of user devices by: distributing, to eachtraffic flow of the plurality of traffic flows, a portion of theavailable bandwidth based on the class of service associated with thetraffic flow, the traffic class associated with the traffic flow, andthe user device that transmitted the traffic flow.